Glencoe

Sunday, 24 June 2012

One Rule For One?

At six miles
long the River Leven isn’t the longest in Scotland, but there was a time when
it was the centre of the footballing world.

Anyone who
knows a little history of Scottish football will, or should, be aware of the
role played by the three teams from the Leven Valley.

Vale of
Leven, Dumbarton and Renton were all formed in 1872, the same year as a club
from Govan who we’ll talk a bit more of later.

Between them
these three clubs won the Scottish Cup six times.

But that
pales into insignificance.

If you meet
anyone from the Renton they’ll proudly tell you about being the first world
champions.

Of course,
as football became increasingly popular, as well as professional, it became
unsustainable for three teams from such a small area to survive and prosper.

Renton were
first to run into trouble, and in the 1897-98 season, unable to meet their
financial obligations, they withdrew from the league that they helped set up.

Their last
hurrah proved to be a Scottish Cup run in 1906-07 when they defeated St.
Bernard’s and Dundee before succumbing to Queens Park in the last sixteen.

They
continued to play in minor leagues until 1922 before finally folding.

Vale of
Leven dropped out of the professional league after only two seasons. In the
second season they didn’t win any of their games and finished last so decided
not to apply for re-election.

In 1905 they
were allowed into an extended Second Division. Twice, in 1907 and 1909, they
finished runners-up, but didn’t get promoted due to not getting enough votes from
the other clubs.

They
eventually dropped into the junior ranks and have stayed there ever since,
winning the Scottish Junior Cup in 1953.

Dumbarton
are the only team from the original Leven Valley trio that are still in the
professional game.

In fact,
it’s fair to say they’ve been doing the local area proud recently.

After a great campaign in the Scottish Second Division they
beat Airdrie United in a two leg play-off final and secured promotion to the
First Division for the first time in years.

Airdrie United were born after original Airdrie went to the
wall through being liquidated. Although they had many financial problems it was
the Rangers chairman David Murray who applied for a court order to seize funds
from the struggling club. He said at the time, “"I feel very sorry for Airdrie and
their supporters but we're running a business. We have given them repeated
warnings and felt they were playing on our good nature."

Newco Airdrie United applied for membership to the league but
the share was given to Gretna instead. Undeterred, they bought another
struggling team’s membership (Clydebank), moved them to Airdrie and renamed
them Airdrie United and took Clydebank's place in the Second Division. A precedent was set. If any newco, even if they've been rejected for membership of the league, doesn't want to start at the bottom tier then they can launch a takeover of another club.

Maybe this is why Craig Whyte's people were sniffing around St. Mirren's accounts last season.

Dumbarton’s return to the First Division is a great boost for
both the young players in the team and the many hundreds who packed their
stadium for the first leg of the play-off final.

It was the first time I’d been to a Dumbarton game for many
years, having never even set foot inside their Strathclyde Homes Stadium.

My memories of Dumbarton were all at Boghead.

The great Scottish Cup run of 1976 with wins at home against
Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock. Finally defeated 3-0 by Hearts in a semi-final
replay at Hampden, helped, funnily enough, by Walter Smith scoring with a
flying header…into his own net.

In 1984, needing a point to win promotion to the Premier
League, they came back from 2-0 down against Clyde to earn the draw. Their
second goal that day still lives with me as one of the greatest goals I’ve
witnessed.

In a crowded box the ball was passed around several players
without touching the ground before being volleyed home.

The locals went wild and fans flooded onto the pitch at the
final whistle.

At the recent play-off a crowd of 1746 packed into the
Strathclyde Homes Stadium.

The young supporters provided plenty of vocal support,
taunting Airdrie United for being Clydebank in disguise, while the older ones sampled
the pies and Bovril and reminisced about past glories.

It might not have been like watching Barcelona, but with a
packed ground and something to play for it was a great game.

When the fixture list for next season came out I noticed
Dumbarton will start the campaign away to Dundee.

Or will they?

Reports in the mainstream media are promoting the prospect of
a Newco being parachuted straight into the First Division, which may mean
Dundee moving up a league.

So Dumbarton may end up playing this Newco.

There is a certain amount of irony about this. Dumbarton and Oldco
were formed in 1872 and were pioneers of the game in Scotland.

But is it right that a Newco team should not start at the
bottom? Why should this Newco team be treated differently from say Renton, Vale
of Leven or Airdrie United?

What is the game in this country, a sport or a business?

When Moses McNeill and his buddies formed the original
Rangers Football Club they didn’t even have a ground to play on. They played
for the love of the game, not to make a quick buck.

Both world champions Renton and Rangers couldn’t meet their
financial obligations.

Both triple Scottish Cup winners Vale of Leven and Rangers
didn’t get enough votes to play in the top league.

Newco Airdrie United, started after
Oldco Airdrie were liquidated were originally refused admission into any league
and had to buy another club to get back in.

It remains to be seen where Newco Rangers will eventually end
up, but as sure as the River Leven flows from Loch Lomond into the River Clyde,
they will not be treated the same way as Renton or Vale of Leven.

And if they do get parachuted into Division One I hope
Dumbarton give them a lesson in both football and dignity.

2 comments:

Like I said previously, every opinion carries equal weight. I'll add your to the list of positive comments and retweets on Twitter. Once again, thanks for taking the time to read and comment on this site. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.